


The Yoga Class

by larchwood



Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: F/M, First Meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-08
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 17:07:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2740322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larchwood/pseuds/larchwood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From The Interrogation Room (25 Sep 2012) "We met when he started taking my therapeutic yoga classes for his knee."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Yoga Class

Deuce tapped the business card absently against his desk as he stared out into space. Yoga. Ugh. He couldn’t believe he was actually considering yoga. But his leg had been hurting like a mofo since that “easy” hike with his family and Zane last month. Figures that messing around with a ring of treasure hunters would fuck up the leisurely “family bonding/interrogate Ty’s new partner” routine. All the hiking and added stress probably wouldn’t have bothered anybody else, but on his busted up leg? Every step now was pretty much agony.

He snorted as he thought about his family’s reaction to him doing yoga. Ty would never stop ragging him about being a pansy ass, but he of all people had probably actually done yoga training at some point as a Recon Marine and could downward dog with the best of them. Earl, on the other hand? Deuce blanched at the thought of his dad finding out. He could just imagine Earl’s reaction…..

The business card was a courtesy of his orthopedist from his last appointment. They both agreed that holistic approaches might prove more useful than more surgery or other options. Deuce wasn’t quite ready for acupuncture yet, so spending an hour or two a week in lyrca to get some relief was worth it, he supposed. 

Deuce dialed the number on the card while idly trying to massage the kinks out of his own calf muscle. “Yoga on Main Street. This is Livi, how can I help you today?” Deuce fumbled with the cellphone as he absorbed Livi’s voice. Smooth and husky but exuding warmth and enthusiasm. His libido immediately conjured up a sex kitten on the other end of the line, even though his rational side at the same time assumed a no-nonsense, plain-Jane steroidal bodybuilder type.

He cleared his throat and started to blather on about his doc’s recommendations and his medical history. Livi asked a few questions, drawing more details from him and his expectations for the class. After about five minutes of her gentle prodding, Deuce started to feel more comfortable with the notion of going to a group yoga class.

“Well,” Livi said. “It sounds like you’d be most comfortable in a Hatha class. That’s fancy yoga talk for ‘beginners’ class,” she said, a hint of amusement in her voice. “We offer those on Saturday mornings at 9:00 am and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 5:30.” Deuce looked through his client schedule and said, “This Wednesday will work for me. What do I need to bring?” Livi quickly ran through a brief list of the essentials – water bottle, yoga mat, and towel. “And I’m the instructor for the class, Mr. Grady, so anything I can do to make it more comfortable for you, please let me know.” He thanked her and excused himself as he ended the call, trying to inject a friendly note of anticipation in his voice, rather than the actual “WTF” scrotum-shriveling panic he was actually feeling.

Two days later, Deuce found himself sitting in his BMW, parked outside the yoga studio. As he climbed out of the car, he glanced down at his outfit, hoping it would be alright for the class. Going to a yoga class was one thing – SHOPPING for yoga clothes was something else. He sincerely hoped that track pants were suitable enough. He just didn’t think he could handle shopping for tie-dye Lycra shorts.

He took a deep breath and muttered, “Man up, Grady” under his breath as he grabbed his gym bag and headed inside the facility. Soothing neutral colors of tan and butter yellow decorated the walls. Potted plants of various shapes and sizes threatened to take over every nook and cranny, perhaps in some sort of “zen/nature” affect. Deuce sniffed at the artificial attempts to inject a calming aura into what basically amounted to as a gym. Rationally, as a mental health practitioner, he fully endorsed the benefits of yoga as a mind-body technique. Didn’t mean that he wanted to embarrass himself rolling around on the floor like some sort of up-ended turtle.

He stopped at the entrance of the main yoga studio to look in, getting the lay of the land before making that final commitment by actually entering. About 10 other people were milling around, a few already settled on their yoga mats, sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed, probably channeling “om.” There were a few small groups of people, quietly chatting as they stripped out of their winter coats and removed their shoes. Deuce was relieved that there was a vast disparity in body types and ages. He had feared that the class would be made up entirely of lithe, twenty-something college co-eds who were yoga experts – people not likely to tolerate an older novice with a gimpy leg, sporting black track pants and a gray t-shirt that said, “I have CDO – It’s like OCD but all the letters are in alphabetical order as they should be.”

Deuce hurriedly moved to claim an empty spot on the gym floor, safely in the back of the group. He was still fussing with the mat when an actual lithe, twenty-something co-ed broke off from her little social group and headed his way. He straightened up and looked her over. A beautiful finely boned face – blond hair, almost white, up in a ponytail. Trim body in color coordinated spandex shorts and tank top. Smile wide and open, reaching her blue eyes. “Hi, I’m Livi. You must be Mr. Grady.” He smiled slowly and said, “Deuce. You can call me Deuce.”

~~~~~~~~~

Livi hadn’t been sure that Mr. Grady would actually show up. If she had a nickel for every time someone called about starting yoga, then failed to actually show up? Well, she’d have a nest egg that’d rival her trust fund. But the man standing at the doorway had to be her new student. And wow! It’s not every day that a 6 foot – 4? 5? man wanted to join a yoga class. Livi went over to welcome him and try to put him at ease. 

“You can call me Deuce.” Oh man, his voice was just as gravelly and deep in person as it had been on the phone. Livi felt an urge to check her appearance in the nearest mirror, but squashed it in an effort to be professional. Whoa, girl, she thought. You’re in charge of the class. Get your zen on.

She upped the wattage in her smile. “Deuce it is then. I’m so glad you could make it. We’re going to wait another couple of minutes for any late stragglers. If you want to go ahead and get comfortable on your mat, that’s perfectly fine. Since this is your first time, just try to follow along, but don’t feel any pressure to get everything right tonight. Most of the others in this class have been at it for several weeks.” 

She paused a minute and her eyes twinkled at the expression on his face. “We have students of all levels of ability in here, Deuce. You’ll probably notice that everyone will modify the poses in some way, whether because of inexperience, mobility issues, or just plain ‘that’s hard and I’m not going to do it’. If you have any questions, just take a breather and observe. We can go over anything you want after the class is over, alright?”

Deuce smiled at her again. “Alright,” he said and then started stretching his arms over his head as a warm up. Livi tried not to stare at the rise of his t-shirt from his waistline. There was just a fine line of hair running down the skin she could see. She felt herself blushing and turned to exchanging greetings with a few other members of the class, mentally cursing her fair complexion.

Livi moved to the front of the class and settled onto her own mat to start the warm ups. While a soothing instrumental selection played through the studio’s speakers, Livi led the class through the basic floor poses, everything from “happy baby” to “cobra pose” and other generic stretching routines. After about 15 minutes, they transitioned to standing poses – “sun salutations,” “triangle pose,” “tree pose” and “warrior’s pose.” Livi moved through the room, her soothing voice reminding them to breathe while holding the position, correcting a body position here and there. 

She kept a close eye on Deuce, watching his progress throughout the class. He seemed to be genuinely trying to get the poses, his brows wrinkled in concentration as he tried something new. From what she could see, he had the necessary muscle tone in his core and upper body to handle the most strenuous poses. His issues seemed to be most noticeable when he had to be on his knees during “cat’s pose” or in a deep lunge. But even during these exercises, Deuce gamely tried to keep up. She could almost see him giving himself a mental pep talk.

The class ended with 10 minutes of everyone lying on their backs while Livi guided them through some mental imagery exercises. “Feel the alignment of your spine. Feel your rib cage expanding as your shoulder blades move deeper into the earth. Relax. Let all the stress leave your body. Start with your toes. Wiggle them. Do you feel any tension in them? Consciously let that go. Move on to the soles of your feet. Flex them for a count of four, then release……” Livi worked them up through the body, using everyday words instead of yoga-speak for the seven chakras. 

She ended the class with everyone sitting in cross legged pose, eyes closed and hands resting palm up on their knees, after a few minutes of concentrating on their breathing, she gave the final benediction to signal the end of the class. “Namaste.” She smiled as the class started to break up, pleased with the class’s energy and the feedback she could glean from the students’ comments. It always felt good when a class was over and everyone seemed pleased with their experiences, she thought.

After taking a sip or two from her water bottle, she walked over to Deuce to see what his thoughts were about the class. He was slightly flushed from the exertion, but didn’t seem to have any problems breathing or any outward signs of significant pain. “So Deuce, what did you think? Do you have any questions for me?”

~~~~~~~~~

Duece gave a sigh of relief when he heard Livi end the class. He felt like he had kept up fairly well, but man! He was abso-fucking-lutely a beginner. And while the muscles in his back and shoulders felt pretty damn awesome actually, his leg was still achy. He hesitantly and almost apologetically confessed that to Livi. She grinned at him, letting him know that his candor wasn’t an issue. “Deuce,” she said gently. “You probably just used muscles in weird ways and for longer than you’re used to. One session of yoga isn’t going to immediately correct your problems. It’s going to take several sessions for you to get used to the poses and learn to use your muscles correctly. And to build up the stamina necessary to flow through the poses. It takes a while to get this stuff. As long as you’re willing to keep after it, I promise you’ll gradually see improvement.”

Deuce brightened a little. “You’re right. This will take some more practice, won’t it?” He thought it wouldn’t be such a hardship to come back and spend some more time doing yoga. With Livi. He rolled his neck to loosen it up some more, enjoying the full range of motion, before reaching down to grab his mat. “Next class is Friday, yeah?” She smiled almost shyly before nodding and turning to another student who wanted to speak to her. Deuce just gave a pleased little hum as he mentally re-arranged his Friday schedule. Just call him Yoga Boy…..

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not a writer, so I have no idea if I've been telling instead of showing. Unbeta'd.


End file.
